First of all let's define a serious horse and here I'm going to offer up Winx as the perfect example.
My idea of 'a serious horse' is one that can compete as a juvenile (Winx won
her only two starts at the back end of the season), win or at least be
competitive in a 'classic' at three over a staying trip (she won the Queensland
Oaks) and then race successfully as an older horse over a range of distances.These are the sort of horses punters and racegoers love and make us all want to be a part of racing, but increasingly at the yearling sales it's hard to find youngsters with the pedigree (genetic framework) to suggest these capabilities.
A pedigree comes in two parts, the sire and the dam, and in an ideal world the yearling should be a mix of the two, hopefully combining their best qualities to produce something even better.
The trouble in Australia is that we have an obsession with speed and the notion of breeding speed on speed relentlessly has resulted in a vast population of good looking squibs that can't see out a mile.
They populate stallion rosters at the biggest farms in the country and offer breeders very little chance of producing a 'serious horse'!
Champion sires such as Redoute's Choice (age 20), More Than Ready (USA) (age 19)
and Fastnet Rock (age 15) can deliver a 'serious horse' when mated to the right
mare, but they are growing older and one does wonder if the stallions following
behind them are as versatile.Current superstar Snitzel has sired 63 stakes-winners, but just one has been successful at a distance of 2000 metres or further and that is Cox Plate winner Shamus Award.
Not a Single Doubt has been a little more successful at siring versatile horses and has produced 43 stakes-winners with four of them successful at 2000 metres or further – Single Gaze, Kenedna, Gypsy Diamond and My Ex Mate.
Both stallions, and they are top class stallions, are small stocky, short coupled sprinting types that would require a mare with some real scope in physique and diversity in pedigree to deliver a 'serious horse'.
Those types of mares are increasingly becoming short in supply.
I Am Invincible and Written Tycoon are the next two commercial hot horses that are currently covering huge books and are destined to have an even bigger impact in the next few years.
Written Tycoon has had 19 stakes-winners, but just one at a distance of 1600 metres or further and that's his star Tasmanian filly Hot Dipped, while I Am Invincible has had 21 stakes-winners and none have been successful beyond 1600 metres.
Given that both stallions have risen from humble beginnings, the mares they are covering now will be of a better quality and may include the types of mares that would give them a better opportunity to get that 'serious horse'.
Whether they can capitalize on that remains to be seen, so the jury is out on them.
The loss of High Chaparral (IRE) and Street Cry (IRE) in 2014 dealt breeders
seeking to produce a 'serious horse' a bitter blow as they were the go to guys,
so where do you go now?For breeders looking to put a little stamina into a speedy squib mare (and there are thousands of them!) this spring with a proven and popular sire the options are quite limited.
Sebring is showing real promise as a sire that can get a super serious horse, think Criterion, Dissident and now Egg Tart, but his offspring that carry a double cross of Danehill (he is from a daughter of Flying Spur) are to this point not quite of that quality.
That said, he has three runners in the Queensland Derby on Saturday – Black on Gold, Violate and Wu Gok – all of them with a double cross of Danehill, so that's a statistic that could change.
Darley's Teofilo (IRE) is a similar proposition in that he can get a very good horse, think Humidor, Kermadec and Palentino, but he's from a daughter of Danehill and his offspring with the double cross are also not as good. His 12 Group I winners do not include any with a double cross of Danehill.
So You Think may be the hope of the side if you have a speedy squib mare with Danehill blood as he's made an encouraging start to his stud career with a good spread of winners over a variety of distances from 900 to 2500 metres.
His Randwick Guineas winner Inference is from stakes-placed Pontiana, a fast daughter of Redoute's Choice that never raced beyond 1400 metres, while his Tasmanian Derby winner Northwest Passage is from stakes-placed Danevade, who never won beyond 1400 metres and is a sister to brilliant sprinter milers Shania Dane and Scintillation.
Breednet would love to see some feedback from our audience on this topic, what stallions do you like to deliver a 'serious horse'? Is there an unproven stallion that will rise to fill the void? Email us at media@breednet.com.au
Footnote: Don't get me wrong, speedy squibs can win a lot of prizemoney and make their owners very happy. We produce some of the best of them in the world, but shouldn't we be trying to breed a better athlete and more versatile horse?
What is the Australian thoroughbred going to look like in 50 years? Let's hope it's not a quarter horse!
